On Wednesday, May 31, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced he is taking on prescription opioid manufacturers for allegedly masking the risks of drug addiction through fraudulent marketing. The 100-page lawsuit says that five prescription drug manufacturers, Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Allergan, tricked doctors into prescribing opioids and, in turn, fueled the drug epidemic in the state.
The lawsuit, filed in southern Ohio’s Ross County – ground zero of Ohio’s opioid epidemic – alleges violations of the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act, the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, the Ohio Product Liability Act, and state laws targeting Medicaid fraud, in addition to common law violations.
The suit claims that doctors were misled into over-prescribing opioids by downplaying the dangers of their drugs. “It is just and it is right that the people who had a significant role in creating this mess in Ohio should clean it up,” Mr. DeWine said at the news conference announcing the suit.
Among the fake claims, individuals would not become addicted to opioids if they were used as directed. The claims were printed in medical journals, shared by sales representatives, and shared by third-party groups, Mr. DeWine said.
Ohio leads the nation in the number of opiate overdose deaths. In 2015, 3,050 people died of drug overdoses statewide.